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John Taylor Fertilizers Deploys RFID for Equipment Yard Management
Intelleflex solution provides automated tracking of agricultural chemical equipment
Santa Clara, CA — August 1, 2008 — Wilbur-Ellis unit John Taylor Fertilizers Company has tapped Intelleflex and its solution partner, InCom Corporation, for the automated tracking of agricultural equipment at its Yuba City, Calif., location, the solution providers have announced.
John Taylor provides agricultural chemicals and fertilizers to growers throughout California. The chemicals and fertilizers are distributed using various pieces of equipment such as sprayers, conveyors and dispensers, which are stored and managed in equipment yards.
Prior to implementing the Intelleflex and InCom solution, John Taylor found it difficult to track what equipment was in the yard, what was out at customer sites and how often the various pieces of equipment were used. This resulted in underutilized assets, delayed customer response times and unnecessary purchases of new equipment.
Using a solution called OnSite, which was developed by InCom based on the Intelleflex RFID platform, John Taylor is now able to automatically track equipment inventory in real-time: the time the equipment leaves the yard, the location to which it is delivered, when it is returned to the yard, and how often it is used.
"We finally have a system that allows us to keep accurate track of our equipment," said Craig Niesen, service manager at John Taylor Fertilizers. "We haven't lost visibility to a single piece of equipment since the system has been installed."
Niesen added that other benefits of OnSite include the ability to account for the usage of each piece of equipment, allowing more effective equipment purchase planning and an accurate calculation of return on related investments.
"Like many outdoor locations, the yards at John Taylor present formidable challenges for the deployment of RFID systems, [including] exposure to the elements, reading around metallic equipment, required long read/write ranges and constant physical handling," said Craig Kavanaugh, senior director for the Western region at Intelleflex. "But our extended capability RFID platform is designed specifically for these challenging environments."
John Taylor provides agricultural chemicals and fertilizers to growers throughout California. The chemicals and fertilizers are distributed using various pieces of equipment such as sprayers, conveyors and dispensers, which are stored and managed in equipment yards.
Prior to implementing the Intelleflex and InCom solution, John Taylor found it difficult to track what equipment was in the yard, what was out at customer sites and how often the various pieces of equipment were used. This resulted in underutilized assets, delayed customer response times and unnecessary purchases of new equipment.
Using a solution called OnSite, which was developed by InCom based on the Intelleflex RFID platform, John Taylor is now able to automatically track equipment inventory in real-time: the time the equipment leaves the yard, the location to which it is delivered, when it is returned to the yard, and how often it is used.
"We finally have a system that allows us to keep accurate track of our equipment," said Craig Niesen, service manager at John Taylor Fertilizers. "We haven't lost visibility to a single piece of equipment since the system has been installed."
Niesen added that other benefits of OnSite include the ability to account for the usage of each piece of equipment, allowing more effective equipment purchase planning and an accurate calculation of return on related investments.
"Like many outdoor locations, the yards at John Taylor present formidable challenges for the deployment of RFID systems, [including] exposure to the elements, reading around metallic equipment, required long read/write ranges and constant physical handling," said Craig Kavanaugh, senior director for the Western region at Intelleflex. "But our extended capability RFID platform is designed specifically for these challenging environments."
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